Record-Breaking Numbers
The $5 Ocean KO Opener attracted an incredible 420,084 registrations across multiple starting flights. This achievement demolished the previous world record from October 2015, when 253,692 entries participated in the “Common Cents” tournament on PokerStars. The winner of that event, Austria's Simon “DaDumon” Grabenschweiger, turned a $0.01 buy-in into $10,000.
The exceptional interest in the Ocean KO Opener easily surpassed the initial $1,000,000 guarantee, with the total prize pool swelling to over $1,932,386. Of this, more than $1,050,000 was allocated for the popular bounty rewards for knocking out opponents.
From the flights, 24,134 players advanced to the second day, but only the final nine made it to Day 3, contending for a top prize of over $43,000 (excluding bounty rewards).
Poker Combined with a Lottery
The main attraction of the new Ocean KO format is the combination of a classic Progressive Knockout (PKO) tournament with a jackpot format. For each opponent knockout, players have a chance to win a multiplier bounty of up to 400 times. This means every elimination in the tournament can instantaneously yield a six-figure or even seven-figure reward thanks to the multiplier.
Ocean K.O is live on GGPoker 🌊🦈
— GGPoker (@GGPoker) October 4, 2026
Every Knockout is just one Spin from being a Jackpot worth up to 400x the bounty!
Who's going hunting first? 👇#GGPoker #OceanKO pic.twitter.com/kNd5n1axSN
This format has sparked lively debates in the poker community. While critics point out the presence of chance and the transformation of poker into a lottery, supporters highlight that huge jackpots are attracting thousands of newcomers and recreational players to the tables.
Sources: GGPoker, X
